My Jane Austen Summer

A Season in Mansfield Park

About the Book

“When one has read the six great Austen novels…and then reread and then reread the six again, one’s only recourse is the company of others equally bereft. Cindy Jones’s My Jane Austen Summer fills the gap with a nourishing Austen-soaked setting, a wonderfully surprising plot, and Lily, a delightfully peculiar heroine.”—Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club

Author Cindy Jones has a gift for the millions of readers everywhere who have been enchanted by Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, and the other wondrous works of the inimitable Austen—not to mention fans of more contemporary delights such as The Jane Austen Book Club. Jones’s My Jane Austen Summer is a delightful, funny, poignant novel in which a contemporary woman—an obsessed Austenphile—learns much about life, love, and herself during one magical summer in England spent re-enacting Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.

Book Description

Lily has squeezed herself into undersized relationships all her life, hoping one might grow as large as those found in the Jane Austen novels she loves. But lately her world is running out of places for her to fit. So when her bookish friend invites her to spend the summer at a Jane Austen literary festival in England, she jumps at the chance to reinvent herself.

There, among the rich, promising world of Mansfield Park reenactments, Lily finds people whose longing to live in a novel equals her own. But real-life problems have a way of following you wherever you go, and Lily's accompany her to England. Unless she can change her ways, she could face the fate of so many of Miss Austen's characters, destined to repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

My Jane Austen Summer explores how we fall in love, how we come to know ourselves better, and how it might be possible to change and be happier in the real world.

Educator and Librarian Resources

Critical Praise

“Austen lovers everywhere will delight in Lily’s summer adventure and wish Cindy Jones had cast them in a role, too, so they could play a part in this whimsical literary treat.” — Marilyn Brant

“An invitation to get lost in Austen all over again. Janeites will have great fun watching how Cindy Jones cleverly interweaves a very modern romance with the characters, themes, and scenes of Austen’s masterpiece” — Lynn Shepherd, author of Murder at Mansfield Park

“A delightful story that takes us for a romp through the English countryside and into the wonderful world of Jane Austen. You can’t help but root for Lily Berry, a refreshingly real heroine as she searches for herself in a novel and finds something quite unexpected.” — Shilpi Somaya Gowda, Author of Secret Daughter

“An indulgent escape for anybody who has ever wished they could live in an Austen novel...poignant, funny, and as sharply observant of human foibles as the great Jane herself.” — Stephanie Barron,,Author of the Jane Austen Mystery Series

“Austen lovers and romantics won’t have had this much fun since Bridget Jones’s Diary.” — dolcedolce.com

“Jones’ Austenish charm dances through each chapter, causing you fall in love with Lily right from the first few pages while empathizing with the ever complicated issues of her life.” — Marie Claire

“This is an amazing debut for Cindy Jones...My Jane Austen Summer is worth every word on the page; I suggest you pick up a copy because you will love it.” — Bookreporter.com

“Whether you are a Jane Austen super fan or a hopeless romantic, Cindy Jones’ debut novel will sweep you off your feet.” — She Knows

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